This is seemingly becoming a popular topic around the league. I watched the entire Angels-Rays series broadcasted by the Angels Fox affiliate, and Victor Rojas was pointing out every time the Rays had a shift on, and the camera would immediately adjust to the wide field angle so the alignment was in full view. By the final game of the series, Rojas noticed the Rays had a shift on for pretty much every hitter.

The one crucial point that was not written in the article was the importance of pitch execution and how it relates to each shift. For example, let's say a defensive team loads one side of the diamond to defend a pull hitter and the intent is to pitch the batter inside or middle in, and the pitch is mislocated. A guy who can handle the bat can roll his hands or inside out that ball the other way and he has a lot of real estate to work with.

On the reverse side of the spectrum, opposing teams have taken to jamming the right side of 2nd base when Rays LHH Carlos Pena comes up. Pena, reputedly a dead pull power hitter, had earlier in the season taken to laying bunt base hits to the left side, which worked every time he got the ball bunted fair and had him hitting above .300 most of the month. Inexplicably, he's gone away from that strategy lately, but I think a lot of that has to do with opposing pitchers trying to predominantly work him inside or perhaps he's lost confidence in his ability to bunt.

Which brings me back to a point I wrote about it a previous post about bunting being a lost art. With the current trend and emphasis on the shift, it seems to me that if enough guys are adept at getting down bunt base hits, that would cause the opposition to reconsider in a hurry. Key differential here is that it's more difficult as a hitter to get your hands in a position to hit the ball the other way if you get a pitch in a location that is tough for you to handle. If your bunting, you have enough time to set, identify and then adjust your angle of the bat in order to place the ball. Back in the day, Rod Carew used to lay down 15-25 bunts daily in BP before he took his regular rounds. I know for a fact most teams today don't place a high priority on bunting, especially in the AL. I spent quite a few years in player development and saw first hand throughout the minor league levels, guys having no little or no proficiency at being able to bunt. For me, those extra 10-20 knocks a year via bunt base hits would bolster anyones batting average.

Read this article last night, which lead to some other research. It's good stuff, the Rays are great at trying to be creative to win games. (much like a good handicapper should be) It seemed like some of the opposing players have talked about bunting to beat the shift, but don't follow through. I'm sure it's a mix of not being able to bunt and ego.

Had a chance to find out some more info regarding shifts and thought I'd share. Seems to me each time I watch a game there is more and more emphasis being put on this subject, both on the field and in the telecasts.

I was told the Rays really looked into shifting after noticing the Brewers utilizing it freely in last years playoffs. MIL had claimed that shifting allowed them to get to roughly 100 ground balls throughout the '11 season, with an IF comprised primarily of Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Yuniesky Betancourt and Casey McGehee. Conversely, the Rays figured they could easily top that total of 100 with the athletic guys they have, so they decided to implement it.

I was told they only employ the shift if the spray charts show a particular guy to pull 80% of the time. Contrary to what I had speculated in a previous post about pitch location and execution, I was told they don't alter their pitching approach to suit the shift. They simply work a batter according to how they initially game planned.

When I inquired about the possibility of a batter bunting to potentially foil the shift alignment, I was told they don't consider it a concern. They would much rather have a dead pull or power guy try to lay down a bunt or slap dick a ball the other way than have them take their normal hacks with extra base or power potential, which I found interesting.

But then again if any of you watch enough baseball, you'll see the pitiful bunt mis-execution on a daily basis, so maybe it does make sense. Even still, my eyes would get big if I were Luke Scott and saw TOR 3B Brett Lawrie position himself in medium deep RF like he did tonight.